1809: Noah Webster, Esq., An American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking: Calculated to Improve the Minds and Refine the Taste of Youth, to Which are Prefixed Rules in Elocution and Directions for Expressing the Principal Passions of the Mind, p24

: 3."Cookery is familiar to her, with the price and quality of provisions";"and she is a ready accountant."Her chief view, however, is to serve her mother and lighten her cares."She holds cleanliness and neetness to be indispensable in a woman";"and that a is disgusting, especially if beautiful.

: "How many times I have heard a woman called a , because she could not keep a house in order, when had she been allowed to write out her sublime thoughts, which were all in another direction, she would have astonished the world with her genius. Talk about women getting out of their sphere; can they do so any more than they are now. Look at the thousands of women who are not fit to be mothers, and yet are constantly bringing children into existence, children which will rise up to curse them for that very existence; and why is this? because society is forcing women into marriage, before they have any knowledge of what they are fitted for and what they might excel in. We want better wives, mothers and children, and before we can have this, we must have better women.

: "Bete!" returned the angry Frenchman, bestowing a savage kick on one of the unoffending pups which was frisking about his feet. The pup yelped; the barked and leaped furiously at the offender, and was only kept from biting him by Sam, who could scarcely hold her back for laughing; the captain was uproarious; the offended Frenchman alone maintained a severe and dignified aspect. The dogs were at length dismissed, and peace restored.

(countable) (archaic) a maid.

1664 CE: Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys

: Our little girl Susan is a most admirable , and pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better.